What Is Chocolate, bittersweet and How Can I Use It?

If chocolate, bittersweet has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 123 recipes to try it in.

What is chocolate, bittersweet?

Bittersweet chocolate is dark chocolate with a high cacao percentage and just enough sugar to take the harshest edge off.

Most bars sold as bittersweet land between 60% and 70% cacao. That means deep chocolate flavor and only a little sweetness.

Like its close cousin chocolate, semi-sweet, it carries no milk solids. Both are built from cocoa liquor and sugar bound together with cocoa butter, plus a little vanilla and lecithin.

Here is the catch. The words bittersweet and semisweet are not regulated in the United States, where the only rule is at least 35% cacao for either one. So one brand's bittersweet can be sweeter than another brand's semisweet. Read the percentage on the wrapper, not the name.

Cooking With Bittersweet Chocolate

Bittersweet is the baker's default for anything that should taste of real chocolate rather than candy. The higher cacao gives you a darker, more grown-up result and lets you control the sweetness with the rest of the recipe.

It does its best work where chocolate is the headline. A Double Chocolate French Silk Pie leans on bittersweet for its rich, barely-sweet filling, and it keeps a layered tiramisu from turning cloying.

Melt it gently. Bittersweet has less sugar and no milk solids, so it is more forgiving than milk chocolate. Even so, it scorches over direct heat and seizes the instant a drop of water gets in.

Use a double boiler kept below a simmer, or microwave in 20-second bursts at half power, stirring between each. For dipping and bark, like this Chocolate Hazelnut & Cherry Bark, temper it so it sets with a hard snap and a glossy surface.

What It Pairs With

Bittersweet loves a foil. A pinch of salt and a shot of coffee both deepen it, while raspberry or orange cut through the richness with a bit of acid.

It also handles bold partners that would bury a sweeter chocolate. Toasted nuts, espresso, bourbon, and even a little chili all hold their own against 70% cacao.

The common mistake is swapping bittersweet straight into a recipe written for semisweet or milk chocolate without adjusting the sugar. Because it carries less sugar of its own, the result can come out flat or harsh. Taste the batter and add a spoonful of sugar if it needs lifting.

Substitutes

Semisweet is the closest swap and usually works one for one, though the finished dessert will be a touch sweeter and a shade milder.

To stand in for 1 ounce of bittersweet, melt together 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder with 2 teaspoons each of sugar and butter or oil. That gives back the cocoa solids and cocoa butter you are missing, along with the sugar.

You can also build it from chocolate unsweetened. Stir in roughly 2 teaspoons of sugar per ounce of unsweetened chocolate and you land in bittersweet territory. Skip cocoa powder in anything that relies on melted chocolate to set, like a ganache, since you lose the cocoa butter.

Buying and Storing

Choose bittersweet by cacao percentage, not the word on the front. A 60% to 70% bar handles the widest range of baking, from brownies to ganache to a dipped strawberry.

Buy bars rather than chips when you plan to melt. Chips hold added stabilizers that help them keep their shape in a cookie, which is the opposite of what you want for a smooth pour.

Keep it cool and tightly wrapped, away from anything strongly scented, because cocoa butter pulls in odors. Around 65°F (18°C) is ideal. The fridge is a last resort, since the humidity there causes a dull sugar bloom.

Well-wrapped bittersweet keeps for up to two years. It holds so little moisture that there is almost nothing for spoilage to take hold of, and any gray bloom that appears melts out smooth.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Chocolate, bittersweet is a member of the Sweets US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

巧克力，苦乐参半

British (UK) term

Chocolate, bittersweet

en français

chocolat, doux-amer

en español

chocolate, agridulce

How much does chocolate, bittersweet weigh?

Related

Sweets

Recipes using chocolate, bittersweet

There are 123 recipes that contain this ingredient.

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Super Chocolaty Brownies

Super chocolaty brownies baked sheet-pan style with a pound each of bittersweet chocolate and butter, eight eggs, and a 24-hour rest before slicing into 2-inch squares.

Brandied Chocolate Truffles

Brandied chocolate truffles made with bittersweet ganache, Cognac, and a hand-dipped chocolate shell. A classic French confection that holds beautifully in the fridge for up to a week.

Brandied Chocolate Truffles

Brandied chocolate truffles made with bittersweet ganache, Cognac, and a hand-dipped chocolate shell. A classic French confection that holds beautifully in the fridge for up to a week.

Bittersweet Chocolate Coated Truffles

Bittersweet chocolate truffles: silky ganache centers spiked with liqueur, hand-rolled and double-dipped in tempered bittersweet chocolate. Holiday gift-box candy made at home.

Bittersweet Chocolate Coated Truffles

Bittersweet chocolate truffles: silky ganache centers spiked with liqueur, hand-rolled and double-dipped in tempered bittersweet chocolate. Holiday gift-box candy made at home.

Creamy & Fudgy Brownies

Intensely fudgy brownies made with melted unsweetened chocolate, swirled with a tangy chocolate cream cheese topping and studded with toasted nuts. Dense, rich and squidgy in the middle.

Chocolate Vanilla Hazelnut Ice Cream

We have been making several ice cream this summer, this chocolate hazelnut ice cream tastes heavenly delicious. Creamy, nutty and vanilla-y, you can find chunks of chocolate in every bite.

Chocolate Fresh Mint Ice Cream

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Fudgey Chocolate Popsicles

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Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

I have made this recipe for more than ten times, they are always great. I love them all the time!

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

I have made this recipe for more than ten times, they are always great. I love them all the time!

Ultimate Dark Chocolate Mousse

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Cappuccino Muffins

Cappuccino muffins with cocoa, espresso crystals, bittersweet chocolate, and orange zest. Sour cream and half-and-half keep the crumb tender while coffee deepens the chocolate flavor.

Very Chocolate Muffin

Because the chocolate is the star in this recipe, spring for the good stuff, like Valrhona or E. Guittard. You can enjoy the muffins as a snack, or at brunch with some crème fraîche or clotted cream instead of normal muffin accompaniments.

Very Chocolate Muffin

Because the chocolate is the star in this recipe, spring for the good stuff, like Valrhona or E. Guittard. You can enjoy the muffins as a snack, or at brunch with some crème fraîche or clotted cream instead of normal muffin accompaniments.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake recipe

Triple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Triple chocolate fudge brownies with bittersweet, unsweetened, and semi-sweet chocolate. Dense, glossy-topped, and seriously fudgy with crackled edges.

Brownies with Marshmallows

Fudgy double-chocolate brownies studded with gooey marshmallow pockets, chocolate chunks, and raisins, and sweetened with a touch of maple syrup. Rich, melty squares for serious chocolate lovers.

Chocolate Hazelnut & Cherry Bark

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Double Almond & Chocolate Granola Bars

Forget the store-bought granola bars that are always way too sweet and not necessarily as healthy as you think. Making your own is always the way to go, these granol bars are made with almonds, almond butter, chocolate and oats; absolutely easy to make, and they can be a filling, nutritious and delicious grab-n-go breakfast or a handy snack.

Strawberry Ricotta & Vanilla Sugar in Phyllo Squares

These delicate desserts are so elegant, ricotta cheese gives the smooth, creamy and light taste and texture, fresh strawberries let the flavor so refreshing and the vanilla sugar adds some nice zing along with some finely grated chocolate pieces on top.

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Double Chocolate French Silk Pie

If you are a chocolate fan, this is an excellent recipe for you to try without guilt, it is much lighter than normal chocolate pie. The thick chocolate taste will satisfy you. Also it is a great dessert for holiday.

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A decadently rich chocolate cake that contains no flour but has the consistency and density of a chocolate candy bar.

French Chocolate Coffee Layer Cake

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No-bake chocolate icebox cake with brandy-soaked tea biscuits, a thick chocolate pudding cream layer, and grated bittersweet and milk chocolate on top. Elegant, boozy, and zero oven time.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

Chocolate hazelnut mousse blends bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, and Frangelico into a silky pudding-based mousse, topped with toasted hazelnuts. A lighter make-ahead dessert for dinner parties.

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Bresse farmhouse chocolate cake is a French country dessert: a thin, almost-flourless bittersweet chocolate cake that falls intentionally, then gets slathered in a glossy reduced-cream ganache and dusted with cocoa sugar.

Chocolate Pavlova

A friend just sent me this recipe, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Chocolate Pavlova

A friend just sent me this recipe, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Cappuccino Brownies with White Chocolate Sauce

Cappuccino brownies rich with bittersweet chocolate, toasted hazelnuts, and a whisper of cinnamon, plated with a warm white chocolate-coffee sauce. A dinner-party dessert with unmistakable coffeehouse flavour.

Cappuccino Brownies with White Chocolate Sauce

Cappuccino brownies rich with bittersweet chocolate, toasted hazelnuts, and a whisper of cinnamon, plated with a warm white chocolate-coffee sauce. A dinner-party dessert with unmistakable coffeehouse flavour.

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Chewy Chocolate-Orange Bars

Raisin Puree is the basis for the dough of this rich-tasting, chewy bar. The combination of orange and chocolate is a classic favorite. We considered cutting the amount of chocolate in the recipe, thereby cut ting the fat, but in the end we agreed that the extra richness is worth the extra grams of fat.

Fallen Souffle Cake

Flourless fallen souffle cake with a full pound of bittersweet chocolate, butter, and nine eggs. A dense, fudgy French-style chocolate cake with a soft center, dusted in cocoa and powdered sugar.

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Fudgy bittersweet chocolate brownies topped with tangy cream cheese filling and fresh raspberries. Two layers of rich flavor that need an overnight chill for clean, bakery-perfect slices.

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All 123 recipes